This week the reading was heavy. The title of the chapter is misleading, as the majority of folks did not experience anything close to equal human rights in the New Republic.

Something that stood out to me was the 100 year span between when the first country in LA abolished slavery to when the last country finally abolished slavery.
Another part of the text that stood out to me was the fact that there are little to no first hand accounts from slaves themselves during this time period. Of course it makes sense because of the lack of rights & iliteracy rates, but I’m sure it worked in the slave owners & governments favor to have not had the slaves be unable to communicate their feelings and experiences. I guess that is why it took so long for slavery to be abolished. If the general, world population could have had access and knowledge about the true human rights abuses going on during the time… instead of only seeing written accounts from white men talking about how “primitive” and “destructive” people of color are… I’m sure slavery might have come to a close sooner.

The different accounts and anecdotes about how systems and slavery worked in Latin America during the 17 and 1800’s was so shocking and horrifying. Slaves in LA and in Brazil specifically were so indispensable- Dawson explains the difference in white and black life expectancy, and describes the working conditions in the fields and in one excerpt explains how slaves usually died within the first 3 years of arriving on a plot of land in Brazil. Reading about human life being so invaluable was extremely unsettling.

Dawson states that slavery is a “stain” in the region’s history- and I just think that’s not nearly a powerful enough metaphor to describe the atrocities committed by whites during the period of slavery. I feel the same way about how little attention the USA gives to their slave history, and even how much Canadian history is curved to overlook how forceful and brutal colonizers were to indigenous people. It’s sad to say I wasn’t surprised by the fact that I had never heard anything about how brutal the system of slavery was in Latin America. It seems as though if a tragedy happens to people of colour, it’s simply not talked about as much or as important as tragedies that affect white people.

We live in a time period where slavery has been formally abolished- However, even though it has technically been abolished, it still very much exists today in many different regions, in many different forms. I’m not super well versed on the topic, but I know that in some Latin American countries, labor laws are still sooooo loose, and only selectively enforced… Governments and landowners still very much take advantage of their workers. I’ve done some work with an NGO called OXFAM, which does a lot to call attention to these injustices today, and make sure that workers know their rights and can escape bad situations if they need to. It’s interesting to read about LA history in the 17 & 1800’s and see that though there has been progress- prejudice and injustice is still being dragged into today’s world.